tear stained face
by Kisata-chan
Summary: Sakura suddenly realized that Neji's hand was still on her waist. She felt a small blush climb to her cheeks, then suddenly he dropped it. Set after Resuce Gaara arc in shippuden
1. Chapter 1

**Don't own Naruto don't sue please. The only parts that are like the manga are at the start and in the hospital don't want to ruin the story so won't say much if you want to find out read it. Also the chapters in the manga after the rescue gaara arc are not in this story. Yes they do go to retrieve sasuke but not in the same way as in the manga. so please i did not try to copy the manga i just needed them for my story on Naruto. Again I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!!!**

Gaara watched the 7 Konoha Shinobi leave. He was in debt to them, they had saved his life. Especially Naruto and Chiyo-baasama. His eyes strayed to the pink-haired kunoichi. At the moment she was staring disgustedly at the two jonin shinobi. Gaara suddenly felt guilty, he had almost killed her two and a half years ago while fighting Naruto and now she saved his life. He would somehow figure out a way to repay her and Naruto.

_That is just so wrong._ Sakura thought as she watched the two jonin. Gai giving Kakashi a piggy-back stung the eyes.

"C'mon, Since Gai-sensei has sped up we better catch up to them." Tenten stated as she started to run faster. The rest of the group quickened their pace to catch up.

It wasn't long before they reached the Fire Country border and the scenery gradually turned from desert to forest. Neji re-activated his Byakugan, it had taken a lot of chakra out of him when he had fought his clone self. Seeing no unwanted quests he went to deactivate it when his eyes saw Sakura's chakra system. It was low. He turned around to see her falling. It looked like she had already become unconscious from low chakra.

"What are you doing, back there Neji and Sakura." Naruto yelled without turning around. Earning no response from them he turned around. "SAKURA-CHAN!!!"

"Were stopping." Kakashi stated.

Jumping down from the trees with Sakura in his arms, Neji gently set her down on the ground.

_I don't even have to guess to know what this warm liquid is. _Neji thought as he brought his hand out from underneath Sakura. Red smears of blood covered his hand.

"Neji, your bleeding!" Tenten exclaimed when she saw the blood.

"No, it's Sakura's. She must have a wound that she didn't tell us about, or something she didn't heal." Neji explained to the group.

"She's so stupid!!!" Naruto yelled, concern for his friend in his eyes. "She probably healed all of us to perfection and then did a poor job on herself. She probably didn't have enough chakra to heal it whole." Naruto sat down beside her.

"OH, MY BEAUTIFUL BLOSSOM!!!!!" Lee yelled dramatically with tears streaming down his face.

"Now is not the time for that okay, Lee. Well we can't just let her bleed to death so you guys go and get some wood while I bandage her wound." Tenten directed.

"No, were not staying over night. Sakura is losing chakra every minute. Before she passed out, I saw with my Byakugan what her chakra circulatory system looked like and it's not getting any better. She has to get back to Konoha so Hokage-sama can look at her." Neji said.

"Neji how long do you think she can last?" Kakashi asked him.

"Maybe about a day and a half."

_And it takes about three days_ _for the average shinobi. I would think Neji is in the best condition right now and he's not an average shinobi so he could probably get back to Konoha in a day and a half. He would need someone to go with him though in case of rouge ninja. Gai and I are definitely out, Tenten looks like she's okay, but i heard her heavy breathing on the way back so she's probably worse than she looks. Naruto and Lee are recovering quickly but i want Naruto to stay near me just incase. _Kakashi quickly devised his plan estimating everyone's strength and stamina a the moment.

"Okay here's the plan. Lee and Neji will take Sakura back to Konoha, While Gai, Naruto, Tenten and I will take the normal 3 days to get back. If you run into any rogue ninja, Lee, I want you to fight them. If you do run into any there will probably only be 2-3 of them since they don't travel in very large groups."

"Why can't I go back with them. Sakura is my friend, She'll freak out if she looks into ghost eyes and sees bushy brows." Naruto complanied.

The Hyuga's temple started twitching at the last comment.

"Okay let's GO!! Tenten are you finished bandaging Sakura-chan?" Lee questioned bouncing over to the kunoichi.

"Yeah, I'm no medical ninja so it's not the best. The wound has stopped bleeding for now, but you have to be careful not to reopen it because, it's very delicate."

"Okay i will carry the fair maiden!!" Lee exclaimed.

"No, i'll carry her. You'd molest her." Neji bent down and gently picked her up in his arms.

**5 hours later**

"Uggghh," _I feel like i just lost all my chakra._

"Sakura,"

Sakura looked up into white eyes. She knew it was Neji. "Yeah"

"What happened when you were fighting Akatsuki?" Neji questioned, but it sounded more like a demand.

Sakura really didn't feel like arguing so she came him his desired answer, "The worst was that i got a poisoned sword stuck through my stomach. Chiyo-baasama used a little bit of her life source to heal it though, i don't know why it would have reopened."

"Hn."

Sakura sighed when she heard the old sound sasuke used to make. too tired to stay awakeany longer sakura fell into a peaceful sleep.

**3 days later**

_Why do i feel like my head is full of metal?_ Sakura thought as she slowly opened her eyes to see the white ceiling. _Location: Hospital, Reason: Unknown._

"So your awake now," Sakura turned her head to see the perverted shinobi reading is disgusting book. "You've been out for a while now." He said putting down the book to look at her with his one eye.

"How long?" Sakura turned her head back to the white ceiling.

"About 3 days, Neji made it just in time. It wasn't life threatening, but you could have gone into a coma." Sakura saw Kakashi sigh out of the corner of her eye. "Neji told us the basic stuff that you told him on the way back, but i want to know the whole story.

"Don't you always." Sakura chuckled a little knowing there was no way she was going to get out of telling him.

"When we were at the Akatsuki hideout we were up against Sasori's 100 puppet performance technique. I only had 10 seconds left with the antidote i had injected into me before when i had been scratched. Chiyo-baasama past me this jutsu and i threw it at Sasori right before the antidote cancelled. It hit him and all the puppets fell. We thought it was over, but the part that keeps Sasori half human had escaped right before the jutsu hit him and transferred to another puppet. I was walking back towards Chiyo-baasama when i saw something move and realized it was him. I ran in front of her and the blade went through my stomach. It had hit a vital organ just below my heart and i was losing blood fast. Chiyo-baasama somehow killed Sasori's human part and she healed me with her life source tensei jutsu." Sakura stopped for a second. "I knew it wasn't fully healed and i was going to heal the rest of it, but thought about the injuries you guys would have and decided to save my chakra instead." Sakura finished the story and turned towards Kakashi.

"Okay thats everything, then." He said getting up to leave.

"No, it's not."

Kakashi sat back down with a surprised look on his face.

"Before Sasori actually died he gave me some information on Orochimaru," Kakashi's eyes widened for a second and then he sat up straighter as if he were listening more intently. "I had asked before we started the match that if we beat him he had to give us information on Orochimaru. He said that Orochimaru's latest hideout was in the Grass Village near the Tenchi bridge. He also said that they were scheduled to move the hideout in about a week."

"Where are they moving it to?"

"Sasori didn't say." Sakura closed her eyes wishing for rest, but that was probably unlikely since she could hear Naruto yelling down the hall and a familar voice saying "SHUT UP NARUTO".

"Sakura," Sakura turned her head towards Kakashi who was now standing at the door.

"yeah."

"Be careful next time, please."

"I'll try, sensei" Sakura smiled at him.

"SAKURA-CHAN!!!!" Naruto yelled pushing Kakashi out of the way and grabbing sakura in a suffocating hug.

"Naruto, let go of Sakura. She needs to breathe. And how many times do i have to tell you to SHUT UP!!!" Tsunade bellowed at Naruto from her position beside Kakashi. "Now, can you stay quiet for five minutes while I talk to Kakashi out in the hall? Geez's you'd think that after turning 15 he'd learn to keep his voice under control and mature a little bit, but oh no he has to make my days as hokage a living hell." Tsunade murmured to Kakashi under her breath.

"I HEARD THAT!!!"

"SHUT UP!!!!"

"Your being loud too, y'know" Naruto stated and Tsunade slammed the door in his face. "So Sakura-chan... WHAT THE FRICK WERE YOU THINKING!!!!!!!!!! HEALI--"

"Naruto you better shut the hell up and lower your voice or when i get out of here your not going to have a face anymore." Sakura said in a deadly whisper.

"O-oh kay sorry, but why didn't you heal yourself better? Our injuries weren't as bad as yours." Sakura looked at Naruto and could see that he was angry and worried about her. "You took on a Akatsuki member for Kami's sake. That should tell you that you should be healed first."

"Naruto, look i'm sorry but as a medical ninja it's my job to heal the injuries of my comrades."

"It also means that you have to heal yourself if you get injured so that you don't die on us if we need help." Naruto stated in a oddly smart way.

"OH MY YOUTHFUL CHERRY BLOSSOM, Naruto is right. If your delicate skin is pierced it is you who should be mended at once for if you are not all the youth will be gone from the planet!!!" Lee spoke proudly as he bounded over to Sakura and took her hand.

"Well said Lee, couldn't have said it better myself." Gai beamed at him.

"Thank-you Gai-sensei i will work hard to win Sakura-chan's heart." Lee took Sakura's other hand.

"Get your grubby hands off Sakura-chan, bushy brows!!!" Naruto yelled at him taking her hands away from lee and holding them himself.

"I will not lose!!" Lee said and took Sakura's hands back. And it continued until Sakura pulled her hands away.

"Why did i even come?" Neji and Tenten said in unison. Neji and Tenten sat down on the left side of her, closest to the window while Gai and Lee took a seat at the foot of the bed.

"So Sakura are you feeling any better" Tenten asked.

"Yeah, kinda" A few hours passed and Lee and Gai went to do laps and pushups and Tenten said she was going to help her mother sharpen the weapons.

Sakura saw Naruto yawn, "Naruto, you've been her long enough. Go get some rest."

"K, you too. So come on Neji, lets go get some ramen before i go get some rest." Naruto laughed and ran out the door suddenly full of energy. Neji followed behind him at a steady pace. In no rush to get to the ramen stand. He actuall did have a craving for ramen, he thought it had something to do with being around Naruto too much.

"Neji," Neji paused at the door when he heard his name. "Thanks."

"Hn."


	2. Chapter 2 His Forgiving

**This chapter may seem more like a NejixHinata. Thats because i was going to make a One shot out of it but decided to put it in this book**

* * *

"Hey Neji, when do you think Hinata-chan will be back from her mission?" Naruto asked. He was on his 6th bowl of ramen and moving onto his 7th.

"I don't know" Neji picked away at his miso ramen. He had had a craving for ramen earlier at the hospital, but after he started it he didn't feel to hungry.

"Isn't she supposed to be back tomorrow sometime?" Naruto quickly asked before diving back into his ramen.

"Think so." Neji pushed the rest of his food away and set the money on the counter.

"Where ya going?"

"..."

"Ok, cya i guess."

"Neji's wasn't listening to Naruto though, his mind was on (three guesses who) Sakura. She had seemed ok when he had visited her, but something just seemed off. Why was it that her wound had reopened even after Chiyo-baasama had healed it with her tensei jutsu?

_Why am I even worrying about her. It's just my mind playing tricks on me, she was fine. _An image of Sakura sitting in the hospital bed flashed through his mind.

Sakura and Neji had grown a little closer of the past years. They hadn't really known each other in the academy since he was a year older and even when they were genin, they were on different teams. It was just after they became chunin and started doing missions with different teams that they got to know each other better.

Plus Sakura had healed a lot of injuries of his in the past. He liked having her heal his wounds. She was more careful and gentle than some of the other nurses. He pictured her hands glowing a bright green glowing over his chest while she examined his heart and lungs. He thought of the soothing feel of her chakra flowing into his body, the gentle touch of her hands as she ran them across his back mending the cuts and bruises. _Cut it out. _He thought to himself_. Do not think of Sakura's hands like that._

"Neji-san, _pant _have you _pant _seen Hinata-chan?" Hanabi asked her older cousin, trying to catch her breath.

"No, why?" He asked starting to get worried.

"She was supposed to be back today. Fail or success." Hanabi answered, finally catching her breath.

"Hanabi-sama, Neji-sama," a gaurd called from the porch near the front entrace to the mansion.

"What is it?" Neji called to him.

'We have received word of Hinata-sama. She is at the hospital, Hiashi-sama is already there. He told me to send you there." The guard called back to Neji.

"Lets go." He motioned for Hanabi to follow him. Hanabi and Neji jumped from rooftop to rooftop and landed infront of the hospital entrance. The two cousins walked into the hospital to see Hiashi already sitting in a chair.

"Father what's going on?' Hanabi asked her father.

"Your sister is in surgery."

"WHAT!!!" Hanabi screamed almost on the verge on tears. "What happened!!!"

"I don't know, exactly." Hiashi looked at the floor.

"Well what do you know." Neji asked, calm as could be.

"All i know is that it was a D-rank mission and Kiba-san and Shino-san were on this mission with her. They were escorting a prince who had been visiting Konoha back to the Stone Village. There were already three ninja escorts with him, but they wanted extra protection, because they were epecting an attack on the way back to the village." Hiashi finished looking at his youngest daughter, who now had tears rolling down her face.

Surprisingly Hiashi embraced his daughter in a fatherly hug while telling her that her sister was going to be alright. Hiashi may be the head of the Hyuga family and have a stern personality most of the time, but he knew when it was time to be a father instead of a clan leader.

Neji took a chair on the other side of the hall. He had his arms crossed of his chest, deep in thought of possible scenario's that could have happened. He wasn't concerned, Hinata had probably not been looking out for herself and acting all weak. She probably had just got a kunai in her body somewhere. _That couldn't possibly to enough damage to go into surgery though, could it?_

Neji began to think that maybe it was something worse. Maybe she had gotten a kunai in the heart and was dying right now. It hit him hard in the face like he had been punched by one of Sakura's chakra powered fists. He had never said sorry to her. Sorry about almost killing her at the chunin exams. Sorry for never giving her the protection she needed. Sorry for never treating her like a family member. Sorry for never being there for her. And to think that he might never say anything to her ever again, not even a "hn", he dropped his head to look at the floor.

"Hiashi-sama," Neji heard Tsunade's voice. So busy dreading the next words he barely heard her say that she was stable. Neji felt warmth well up behind his eyes, he knew these were tears. He held them back though, he thanked Kami that he was going to get a second chance.

"Hokage-sama, can you tell us what happened." Hiashi said while quietly letting out a sigh of relief.

"Yes, I can." Tsunade took a seat a chair away from Neji. Taking a breath she began. "As you know Kiba, Shino and Hinata were sent on a D-rank mission to escort Prince Laridoku back to his home in the village of the stone. He had been in Konoha for a week and already had three ninja escorts with him. The ninja's were expecting an attack on the way back and wanted extra help with them. They did not encounter anyone on the way back to the village, but Kiba, Shino and Hinata did on the way back to Konoha. They were attacked by about 70 missing nin. We think that they had gotten confused thinking that the Prince was leaving that day instead of 4 days before. Kiba and Shino took out about half of the enemies, Hinata already having used her gentle fist technique 6 times. Her limit is 7 as i'm sure you know. Shino fell unconscious when he was hit my a kunai in the back and was already suffering internal bleeding and chakra loss. Kiba then was hit in with several kunai to the back and arms, thankfully missing his head. Hinata then took on the 20 that were left with the help of Akamaru. She performed her gentle fist 3 more times,taking out the rest of the enemies. Using all the will power she had left she gathered up Shino and Kiba setting them on Akamaru's back. There having no room for her, she clutched to Akamaru's neck and staggered along. Thank Kami they were only a few hours away. Hinata passed out 4 hours later. Akamaru started barking and thats when Izumo and Kotetsu heard him and went to check it out. They recognized Akamaru and went back for help." Tsunade took a deep breath after she finished.

"How are Kiba and Shino doing?" Hanabi asked. She had become quite accustomed to seeing them come to the mansion and she also had a little crush on Kiba.

"Shino is still unconscious, but he is stable and Kiba woke up a little while ago and translated Akamaru's version since Akamaru was conscious the whole time." Tsunade turned her attention to Hiashi again. "Hiashi-sama i would be very proud of Hinata-chan if i were you. She exceeded her own limits and still stayed conscious for another 4 hours. She also put her friends lives above anything else."

"I am very proud of her. I wouldn't expect anything else from her." Hiashi said with a small smile. "Can you also tell Akamaru that I am grateful to him, if he hadn't been there to help my daughter i'm pretty sure i would have lost her." Hiashi said.

"I'll be sure to do that." Tsunade smiled at them."

"Can we go see her?" Neji surprised Tsunade with his voice. He had been so quiet the entire time that she had almost forgotten he was there.

"Yeah, but she will be sleeping." Tsunade looked Neji straight in the eye.

"We'll come back tomorrow and see her. It's getting late." Hiashi told his nephew.

"Uncle," Neji turned to him. Hiashi saw the sadness in his eyes and instantly understood what was happening.

"Okay, but don't be come back too late or the guards will tell me." Hiashi turned around. Neji didn't notice the smile that had accompanied his lips, because he was too busy walking in the direction of which Tsunade had said Hinata's room was.

Neji entered the hospital room. It had the same color of walls and ceiling as any other room:White. Neji walked over to where Hinata was sleeping. She looked so peaceful, her face was white and if you weren't observant you wouldn't notice the small rise of her chest.

Neji listened to the heart monitor that was beeping at a steady pace, showing that her heart rate was normal. Neji sat for quite awhile, thinking about nothing inparticular. He just felt that he should be there if she woke up. He didn't quite care if he got home late. He just wanted to be there.

Several more minutes passed before he heard a soft "Neji-kun". He looked over to see that Hinata had woken up.

"Yeah."

"What are you doing here so late?" she whispered.

"I - I wanted to make sure you were okay." He answered back.

"Well i am so you can go back home, you need your rest too." Neji got up and headed for the door.

_Hinata i'm sorry. Just say it. It's easy just do it. _"Hinata..."

"Yeah."

"I-I'm s-sorry." Neji stuttered walking back towards the bed.

"For what?" Hinata asked, looking confused.

"Back at the chunin exa--"

"Neji, it's okay. That was a long time ago."

"No it's not okay," Neji took his seat again beside her bed looking as frustrated as ever." I was never there to protect or help you and i can't get over how if Hokage-sama hadn't have been in the village... you probably would've died." Neji was looking at the floor when he heard a soft giggling noise. He looked up to see Hinata laughing.

"What's so funny." Neji said a little annoyed at her for laughing at him when he was trying to say sorry, but also happy to see her smile.

"It's just that, i've never seen you so frustrated before and it looks absolutely hilarious." Hinata kept on laughing.

"Hinata.." Neji said a little to sternly than he would have liked.

"Sorry, Neji-kun."

"I'm sorry all i want is to be forgiven by you."

"Neji-kun..you were forgiven that very day, back at the chunin exams."

Neji's eyes widened a bit and then he did the most un Neji-like thing ever. He leaned forward and kissed Hinata on the forehead. Getting up, he walked towards the door leaving a stunned Hinata behind. Before he walked out the door he paused, "Hinata,"

"Yeah."

"Don't say anything, please"

"Of course not." Hinata laid back down. She knew that once Neji walked out of her hospital room he would go back to be the same stoic ninja everyone knew and not the caring ninja that Hinata now knew about.

* * *

**Loved this chapter, Neji finally made up with Hinata. Yay leave a review please. thanx ttyl tata for now.**

**whiteangel-sakura**


	3. tiny pieces

"SAKURA-CHAN, WAKE UP!!!" Naruto called from outside her apartment. It had only been a day since she had been out of the hospital had he was already bugging her.

"_What does he want now."_ "WHAT?" sakura shouted from the third floor.

"COME GET RAMEN WITH ME."

"I'M NOT GOING, I'LL JUST END UP BUY---

"SHUT UP, SOME PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!!" an old man shouted from the floor below.

"IT'S 11:30 pm GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS YOU OLD FART!!!" sakura yelled back and quickly called Naruto up to her apartment. She got ready while naruto waited in the kitchen.

"What's that guy's problem?"

"Don't ask me he's always like that in the mornings." Sakura responded.

The two friends made their way to the ramen stand and for some odd reason naruto wasn't taking much. "Did you just want me to get some ramen with you or is there something you wanted to talk about?" concern was written on sakura's face "_I wonder what's wrong Naruto isn't usually like this",_ she thought.

"You know what happened to Hinata right, Sakura." Naruto was looking into his reflection in the miso flavoured ramen.

"I heard about it, I didn't operate on her it, it was Tsunade and some of the other medics. Hokage-sama said that if it had gotten worse she would have needed my assistance, why are you asking?"

"Sakura, I think I love her."

**He loves her…he loves her… HE LOVES HER!!!! Sakura, there going to get together, YES YES YES, FINALLY!!!**Inner sakura began to do her little dance.

"That's great, but why do you look so down." Sakura asked still seeing that he didn't look too happy.

"The thing is, I got so scared when I heard what had happened."

"How did you find out, because Hinata came in around 1am."

"I had training the next day with Neji, he told me what happened. I was shocked, things started running through my head, things that I had never said to her. That was when it clicked. I loved her and I thought I had lost her." Naruto finally looked up at Sakura. "So I wanted to ask you if that was okay."

"What, why wouldn't it be okay, you deserve to have happiness and I'll tell you one thing. She loves you too, haven't you ever realized that she always seems to pop up when you're around, how she blushes when you talk to her and for a while there she used to faint even if you touched her."

"Yeah, after I realized I loved her I figured it out, but I just wanted to ask you because…if I start seeing Hinata, I won't see you as much and sometimes I wonder if your okay."

Sakura was silent, she never knew that Naruto cared so much for her. Yeah she knew during their younger days that he had had a crush on her, but after the crush went away she didn't know that he still cared so much for her. "What are you talking about of course i'm okay, why wouldn't I be you baka." Sakura laughed, while punching him in the arm.

"OW!! Why did ya hit me, I didn't do anything." He rubbed his arm giving her a face.

Sakura just smiled at him. "Oh, hey I have to go to the hospital right now, if you want you can come and visit Hinata and even ask her if she wants to go to the festival tomorrow."

"Sure, but will she be out of the hospital by then?"

"Yeah, shes recovering pretty quickly so I think Tsunade will let her out. K so lets go" Sakura started dragging Naruto away from the stand.

"WAIT, Sakur-chan I have to finish my ramen, I only had three bowls, gotta have 6 more to boost my confi—

"You've had enough and your confidence is fine." She continued to drag the thrashing blonde away.

"Can you tell me what room Hinata Hyuga is in" Sakura asked the receptionist at the desk.

"oh, her father wanted her to rest at home. She was making good recovery so lady Tsunade allowed it."

"I guess she went home to rest, go ask her there. I'll see you later." Sakura told Naruto.

"oh, one more thing" the receptionist stopped sakura before she started heading to tsunade's office "you don't have to work your shift today, there haven't been many incidents so lady tsunade told me to tell you that. We'll call you if we need anything."

"Okay, then do you mind if I come with you Naruto."

"Nope, LETS GO!!"

Naruto knocked on the front gate of the Hyuga compound and waited for a maid to answer the door.

"Ohayo Naruto-san, Sakura-san, what can I help you with?"

"we came to see Hinata-chan." Naruto answered politely.

"Well, you can see her, but I think she might be sleeping." The maid led the two friends through the complex mansion to the head families side. "Here you go, if you need anything I'll be doing laundry right around the corner."

Naruto knocked on the door and they waited for a few seconds before they heard a soft voice say "come in". "Hi Hinata-chan" Sakura said politely. She didn't know Hinata very well. They had just gotten to know each other a bit better in the past two and a half years. After Naruto said hello she decided that she would give them a bit of time to talk by themselves. "I'm going to go to the washroom and then for a little walk." She slipped out of the room quietly and made her way down the hallway. She didn't have to go to the washroom so she decided to do a little exploring.

Sakura walked down a hallway and into a backyard. The backyard looked like it was a cross between a garden and training area. Around the garden/training area there were more doors probably leading to other parts of the mansion. Sakura was looking through the daffodils and lilies when,

"What are you doing?"

Sakura swung around when she heard the deep calm voice. There standing behind her a few feet away was Neji. "I'm looking at the flowers, isn't it obvious." Sakura answered his question.

"That's not what I meant, what are you doing here."

"Oh… well say it more specifically and for your information I'm visiting Hinata. Is that such a crime."

"Why aren't you visiting her then."

"Well, I decided to give them a bit of privacy time."

"Them?"

"Yeah, them meaning Naruto and Hinata."

"Hn."

"SAKURA, COME QUICK, HINATA FAINTED!!!" Naruto yelled from some where with a distressed voice.

Sakura walked casually into the room, already knowing she had fainted probably from Naruto asking her out. "I don't know what happened she just sort of fainted after I asked her out."

"You asked her out." Naruto turned around to meet the glaring eyes of Neji.

"Well your not goi—

"It's okay Neji-nisan, I accept your offer, Naruto-kun." Hinata said awakening from her small sleep.

"Hinata, you need to rest and besides uncle won't allow it." Neji said sternly

"I'm going and I don't care what father says." Hinata told her cousin quite confidently.

"Hn."

"Naruto, I'm going to go train. I'll talk to you later, k." Sakura walked out the door and started heading back the way she came. She saw Neji heading the opposite direction and had the most ridiculous idea ever. "Neji wanna train with me?" expecting a "no" she decided to start walking away.

"It's not polite to just walk away." Neji walked past Sakura and out the door.

Shrugging Sakura followed him to the training grounds.

Sakura breathed heavily but silently as she masked her chakra where she was hidden behind one of the trees in the training grounds. They had been sparing for hours on end, the training ground was a total disaster.

There were gaping holes from Neji's Hakke Shou Kaiten and deep long cracks, where earth was upturned from Sakura's monstrous chakra powered punches. Sakura made 3 clones of herself and pumped a little bit of chakra into two of them and a little bit more into the third one. It wouldn't fool Neji completely, but it might make him a little confused seeing 3 sakura's with hardly any chakra left one being the real one and then the fourth having more chakra, making him think the one with more chakra was the real.

Sakura jumped out from behind the tree with the other two clones that had a little bit of chakra. She had a kunai in her hand and was ready to strike if she got the chance. Neji hit one of the clones and it poofed, Sakura quickly punched the ground, he didn't lose his balance and shot a kunai in the second clones direction. That clone poofed too. He looked up to see the third clone with more chakra coming at him from above, he threw a kunai at her and was surprised to see it poof as well.

Quickly turning around he saw the real Sakura coming at him from behind with a chakra powered punch again, Neji took the chance at letting her get close. He was going to try and stop the punch by blocking some of her chakra channels, but he would only get one chance. Sakura got closer and at the last second he dodged it swinging around to strike her arm and block the chakra channels. He charged at her, sakura was caught off guard and was knocked up against a tree, hands above her head and a kunai to her neck.

"I win" Neji said with a small smirk on his lips.

"Don't be so sure." Sakura said with the same smirk on her lips.

Neji looked behind him and saw that there was another clone with a kunai to his back. Neji looked back at Sakura who was still pinned up against the tree. "You've gotten stronger over the past few years." Neji suddenly noticed how close they were, there lips were inches apart. He quickly let go of her and sidestepped the clone that poofed away a second later.

"Thanks, also thanks for coming to train with me. Usually I train by myself or with Tsunade-sama. I'll probably be training more with Naruto since he's back now, but who knows he'll probably be hanging out with Hinata-chan more once they start dating." Sakura looked onto the horizon and noticed that the sun was practically set already. "Wow, is that how late it is?" Sakura motioned her head towards the sun set. "well I better get going then, cya around."

"I'll walk you"

"No, it's okay." **It doesn't look like he'll take no for an answer. **Inner sakura stated referring to the Hyuga that was walking at a steady pace in the direction of Konoha.

Sakura and Neji were in there own little worlds walking back to the town, at one point Sakura had taken the lead, since Neji didn't know where she lived.

"_What is up with me" _Neji thought while looking straight ahead. "_I don't need to notice compromising positions when I'm in battle, its insignificant. I've always pinned Tenten to a tree or underneath me and it's never seemed to bother either of us. Or maybe it did bother her. I should ask her. NO, bad idea she'd take it the wrong way. So why is it any different for Sak--"_

"Cya Neji, maybe I'll see you at the festival tomorrow. I promised Naruto I'd be there for his first date with Hinata." Sakura shut the door, without hearing the small 'good night that had left Neji's mouth.

**Next morning**

"No…no…no…ughh,?" Hinata's frustrated voice reached his ears while he was walking past her room.

"Hinata, is there a problem?" Neji said from the hall.

Suddenly the door flew open and Hinata was standing there with two yukata's in her hand. One had an orange background with the sun and the moon etched on the front and back while the second had a background of purple with large blue lilies in random places. "Which one?" Hinata practically demanded of him.

"Why don't you ask Hanabi or something."

"Cause Hanabi has no fashion sense, and you're a guy so you'll know what Naruto will think will look good on me."

"Well, if I have to choose I'd say the purple one."

"Ok, that's the final decision, thanks neji."

"Hn."

"Hey neji, before you go I wanted to ask how your training went with Sakura-chan yesterday."

"It was a draw."

"SHE TIED WITH YOU!!" Hinata's face was full of shock.

"no, I was going easy on her."

"Better, not tell her that or she'll be mad."

"hn."

"Neji-sama" neji turned around to the maid that was addressing him. The maid realized that he wasn't going to answer but knew that he was listening. "Hiashi-sama has asked to meet with you right away, he is in the fourth training garden." Heading for the fourth training garden he wondered why his uncle wanted to talk to him.

"Hiashi-sama, I was told you wished to speak with me." Neji asked his uncle when he reached the training garden.

"Yes, were you aware of the festival tonight," Hiashi turned to his nephew and sat down on the foyer where a cup of tea had been poured for him.

"Yes,"

"Were you planning on going?"

"No,"

"Well I'd like you to escort Hinata, there are going to be some heads of different countries there and I would like the Hyuga clan to be present, I would send Hanabi but I have allowed her to go with Inuzuka-san."

"I thought Hinata had told you this but she is going with Uzumaki Naruto." Neji watched his uncle's face for any signs of anger but was surprised to see none.

"Well I guess that Naruto is fairly strong and he has been taught under the eyes of one of the three Sannins, right."

"Yes, and while we were on our mission I witnessed some very strong new techniques of his." Neji had never actually seen Naruto's new jutsu's but had heard that he hand almost mastered and improved a jutsu that the fourth hokage had created himself.

"Well, then if that's the case I would like you to find someone to go with."

"Yes, Hiashi-sama."

"That was the first thing I wished to talk to you about." Hiashi became more serious, his tone of voice changed from a business like manner to almost a fatherly/serious tone.

"Neji, for the past couple of years I have been trying to convince the elders into letting you be the next head of the family."

Neji couldn't believe what his uncle was telling him, he might become the head of the family even if he is from the branch family.

"I have talked to Hinata and to Hanabi about it and they both agreed to give the spot up to you if I ever won the elders over… Well after this last mission you were on I finally convinced them to let you lead the Hyuga family after me." Hiashi paused for a few seconds before continuing. "The only thing is that you have to find someone to be your wife within the next month, if you cannot find someone, the elders will find someone for you, either from the Hyuga family or someone suitable that is from a strong family. You don't have to take the position if you don't want."

"I'll take it."

"Very well then, you can go."

Neji walked down the streets of Konoha towards tenten's house, he knew that she would go with him to the festival, he could always count on her.

"Your going with Lee," Neji was staring at tenten straight in the eyes with the I-can't-believe-your-going-with-a-green-spandex-youth-loving-freak glare. "Tenten," Neji paused for an affect "…Lee"

"yeah I know, weird. It's just he was the first one to ask me and well you hadn't asked me yet so I just said…yes."

"but, LEE." Neji emphasized the name.

"yeah, yeah, just shut up."

"I thought he would ask Sakura."

"Me too, but he came up to me and said he felt bad for always asking Sakura out when I was the girl on the team. I don't know, it just happened"

"well who am I supposed to ask. You're the one that always comes with me on these things my uncle wants me to go to."

"Ask Sakura, bet ya she doesn't have anyone to go with."

"Hn, fine."

"BE ONE SECOND!!" Sakura called from inside her apartment. Sakura rushed to her doorway and opened the door.

"Neji, what are you doing here?" she asked slightly confused.

"Festival tonight, your coming with me." Neji told her bluntly.

"Okay, why?"

"Uncle wants me to go, tenten's going with lee, you were the only other person I could think of." Neji stated almost in point forms.

"What if I told you I was going with someone else."

Neji narrowed his eyes, "Who?"

"I'm just kidding this is obviously important to your uncle, so yeah sure I'll go with you. Pick me up at 7 that's what time Naruto's coming, we can go with them."

Neji stood by the door along with Naruto and Hinata, he had arrived only a few minutes and was now waiting for Sakura to finish up while, he listened to Naruto whine about how she was becoming more like Kakashi every day.

"Okay, I'm coming."

Neji stared at Sakura as she came down the hallway dressed in a white yukata with cherry blossoms covering the side and her hair was pulled up into a messy bun. She looked beautiful though Neji didn't show that he noticed.

"LET'S GO!!" Naruto shouted. Hinata quickly 'shussed' him and they made their way to the outskirts of Konoha where most of the festival was being festival. The festival was being held on a small open field that had a great view of the city and the Hokage Mountain. Tables were set up that had drinks and food, some people were entertaining and paper lanterns were decorated through the trees to give the place some light. Little children ran around playing tag with each other and heads of countries sat or stood around talking to each other.

"Naruto lets go over here for a bit." Hinata said quietly.

"Sure, cya later guys." Naruto called back to them.

Sakura and Neji watched the couple walk away to the other side of the hill where an entertainer was entertaining some of the rookie nine and jonins.

"Sakura,"

"Yeah?"

"One of the country leaders that my uncle wanted me to talk to is here, can I go speak to him quickly."

"Okay, do you want me to wait here?"

"No, come with me."

Sakura followed Neji over to who she recognized as the Grass leader. She listened to the two men speak a little bit about business until she heard him ask who she was.

"This is Haruno Sakura." Neji introduced her to the Grass leader.

"Well, well, are you the one who has been trained under Lady Tsunade?" he asked her, Sakura didn't know why but she was beginning to get a warning signal with this guy.

"Yes, I am."

"Well, we should get better _acquainted _sometime." Sakura understood what he meant and didn't answer.

Neji understood what he was referring to and instinctively but his arm around her waist, the grass leader noticed and turned to look Neji in the eye. He got Neji's message and quickly said it was nice to meet him, not mentioning Sakura again.

"Pervert," Sakura said once they were out of ear shot. Sakura noticed that Neji's hand was still around her waist and felt a little blush creep up onto her face. A second later Neji let is hand drop from her waist.

Sakura followed Neji around to the other leaders and waited patiently while they talked mostly about business. No other incidents happened, like the first one. "Sorry." Neji said suddenly.

Sakura turned to look at him, he was still looking straight ahead. "What?" she asked confused.

"You probably wanted to do something different." Neji still didn't turn to look at her and was talking in a relaxed almost monotone voice.

"Oh, no… I had nothing else to do tonight. So I'd rather be doing something, rather than nothing."

The sun had set and now people had begun to disperse. "Neji, Sakura!" Lee called from a nearby tree where several other rookie nine were standing. "Everyone's going to the bar for a bit, you coming?"

"I'm gonna go. You coming?"

"Hn,"

"don't know if that was a yes or no, but if your coming I guess I'll see you there." Sakura began walking towards the others.

Neji didn't really want to go but thinking of Sakura there with a bunch of drunk men didn't comfort him. He started walking beside Sakura.

"_What am I doing here?" _Neji thought to himself, he had been sitting at the bar for over an hour just watching the others have fun, Sakura hadn't been drinking too much, but now that Naruto had challenged her to a liquor contest she was well on her way to getting drunk. _"Sakura can take care of herself, I don't need to be babysitting." _

Neji downed whatever was left of his drink, he turned around to go tell Sakura he was leaving, but he couldn't find her. He looked to the corners of the room and finally he found Sakura with her tongue down the throat of some random guy. She was obviously drunk and he was obviously taking advantage of her.

"CRASH!" everyone turned towards the noise, some random guy was laying unconscious with a bloody nose. Neji had punched the guy in the face knocking him out and was standing in front of Sakura.

Most people were chanting 'fight, fight, fight' and most of them were piss drunk and wouldn't remember the incident the next day so neji didn't give a shit. He put his arm around Sakura's waist to support her while she put her arm around his shoulder. Sakura started blabbering about things that weren't important, of course neji wasn't listening he was back in his own mind.

"_okay, I guess I can't deny it anymore. I care for Sakura. If I didn't I wouldn't have sent that guy to dreamland. But I hardly know Sakura it's just after that last mission that I started to care for her. Or maybe it was before that. When I saw her chakra system that day, she gave me a scare. I had always noticed her, but never thought of it."_ Neji was at Sakura's apartment door, I guess Sakura knew where she was too, even though she was drunk, and got out her key. Opening the door he led her to her room, she was practically sleeping. He set her on the bed and went to walk away but,

"Sasuke, stay please."

Neji was hurt, she still cared about that traitor, even after what he did to her. How could she still care that much about a person that was probably never coming back. He walked to her door when he heard a small sniff.

"Sasuke, why do you always leave. I'm so alone, Naruto's leaving me too and I have no one." Sakura started crying, but was so tired she fell asleep in an instant.

"Fuck," Neji swore hitting the stone wall on the side of the path. How could Sasuke do that to her, the sadness he had felt before and turned into anger. _"How could that bastard be so cruel. She gave her heart to him and he smashed it into tiny pieces. Damn that traitor to hell." _Neji stood with his fist still on the wall and his head looking to the ground.

Neji jumped from rooftop to rooftop the image of Sakura's tear stained face still fresh in his mind.

**I think out of my two chapters this is the best one yet and it's definitely longer, so I hope you liked it, thanx and RxR. sorry if there are any errors, didn't have time tor proofread it.**

_**Kasata-chan**_


	4. him

"Uhhggg…" Sakura groaned. Sakura looked around the room and realized it was her own. She pulled her light blue covers up to her chin and rolled over on her side. "Uhhgg," she groaned again when she saw the red digital numbers in the position of 10:30am.

It was a good thing she didn't have to work today or Tsunade would have her head, but then again Tsunade probably had a major headache at the moment to. Sakura forced herself out of bed and over to her closet where she started pulling out casual clothes for the day, she wasn't going to train and thought that she would do the errands that she never had time to do, until she heard a small chirp.

A brown bird was sitting on the edge of the windowsill. Sakura thought it was just a normal bird until she saw the small letter tied around it's neck with red string, it was one of Konoha's messenger birds. She opened the window and unattached the note from around the birds neck and watched it fly away for a few seconds until she read the tiny note.

_Meet under the cherry trees in the middle of the day. Need to talk to you._

_Love Me._

Sakura understood it immediately, it was code for 'meet at the hokage tower at noon, mission for you, will find out detail when you arrive. From the Hogake.' Any message that was sent by bird was always written in code because you were never to sure if anyone would capture the bird and read it.

Sakura threw the small note into the garbage in the corner of her room. She then returned the casual clothes she had pulled out and put them in their original places. If she was going to go on a mission she might as well just wear her regular training clothes. Grabbing the shirt, skirt and shorts that went under the skirt, along with her bra and underwear she made her way to the shower.

Sakura adjusted the water temperature until it was fairly hot, she liked having her showers hot, because they woke her up and made her think more clearly. As she rubbed the conditioner into her pink locks she wondered what the mission could be about. It suddenly clicked that it had been at least 5 or 6 days since herself and Chiyo-baasama had defeated Sasori. Could this mission be about retrieving Sasuke and bringing down the Sound village.

Sakura didn't waste anytime after her last thought. She jumped out of the shower and quickly got dressed and blew dry her hair. She was surprised to see that the time had passed so quickly. Maybe she was in the shower thinking longer than she had thought. Oh well at least she didn't have to wait to find out what the mission was about.

She was at the hokage tower within less that 5 minutes, she walked through into Tsunade's office hiding her anxiousness. Shikamaru, Lee, Naruto and Tenten were all there waiting to see what their mission was about. "Sorry for the wait." Sakura told Tsunade apologetically.

"It's fine, Sakura. Were actually still waiting for one more person." And as if right on cue, Neji walked through the door. Sakura felt herself unconsciously relax a little. It was like she felt safer knowing he was going to be on the mission as well. _Wait was I worried that he wasn't going to be on the same mission?_ Sakura questioned herself. **Yeah, you were. **Inner sakura stated in an obvious manner. _No I wasnt worried._ Sakura told her inner self. **Whatever, deny it, but you know im right.**

"…Otokagure to retrieve Sasuke." Sakura caught the last of Tsunade's sentence. "Shikamaru will be your team captain,"

A small sigh wit a mutter that sounded like troublesome was heard very faintly, but Tsunade gave him a glare.

"And he is very happy to be your captain, I'm sure." Tsunade said with a fake smile and a glare still on Shikamaru. "If you need any help send a message with one of the birds. They will be keeping an eye on you, If one of them comes back without a note then I will suspect that you have been captured, injured or engaged in battle. If this happens I will send backup."

"Hokage-sama," all of a sudden Kakashi appeared in front of her desk surprising most of us if not all of us. It seemed that Neji and Shikamaru knew that he was there.

"I suppose you wish to go with them, am I correct?" Tsunade asked him folding her hands underneath her chin.

"Yes, actually."

"well, I guess you can go. It may make it a little more difficult, seeing that if I let you go the team will have 7 shinobi, but it will also make the team more secure. Fine go, if I don't let you go, you'll just bother me for the whole time." Tsunade looked at the team for a short moment, and then added "You leave in half an hour, and you have approximately three days left until they move the base again. Dismissed." She waved her hand towards the door, indicating that they could leave.

Neji walked towards the door, wondering to himself if he needed anymore kunai. "Sakura." He heard the Hokage call her name. As tempted as he was to turn around and see what she was going to say he kept walking and closed the door behind him. Curiosity getting the better of him, he quickly masked his chakra as best as he could and listened to what the hokage was telling Sakura.

"Sakura, you don't have to go."

"I know, but this is what I've been working towards for the past 2.5 years." Sakura said quite calmly, almost like she was too calm.

"Sakura, I don't want you to go."

"What?" Sakura asked confused, "but, I have to go. I'm the only medic nin either than Shizune who is capable of this type of mission."

"Then I'll send shizune."

"NO! I want to go."

"I don't want to lose the only girl that's been like a daughter to me." Neji quickly jumped away hearing Tsunade's words. This was obviously a private conversation, but he had to agree with Tsundae he didn't want Sakura going on this mission either.

"Okay I made up the travelling plan." Shikamaru told everyone, sounding oddly unlazy. "Were going to make almost a pentagon shape, myself and Tenten will travel at the front, then it will be Neji, Sakura and Kakashi in the middle, with Naruto and Lee in the back.

"Why do we have to be in the back?' Naruto and Lee said together in a whiny voice.

"Just Shut up, I've arranged everyone according to their abilities."

The group travelled through the forest at a moderate pace in their respective places. It was quiet, no one seemed to want to talk and the only sound that could be heard was the rustling of the leaves as the team sped past them.

Neji stole quick glances of Sakura out of the corner of his eye. He was beginning to worry about her. She was oddly quiet and seemed quite tense. Suddenly Shikamaru broke the silence. "I asked Tsunade if Suna would be helping us in this mission. She said yes. On the third night we will stay in Suna and leave at dawn. They will take another route, just incase we miss the sound nins. Gaara and his team will catch them then and we'll meet up with them and… well I guess you know the rest."

Everyone nodded their heads. The group ran for the rest of the day, only stopping to refill canteens and take short rests. They were getting closer to Suna than most of them had expected, their rate had increased over that last few hours and if they kept at this rate they would reach Suna by the afternoon tomorrow, with the exception of sleeping.

The team finally stopped and set up camp. They quickly established who would be keeping watch and then assigned each other to certain jobs to get camp set up. Neji walked with Sakura to the stream that was nearby as she gathered fire wood. The feeling between them was awkward, Neji could feel it and it was killing him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, finally having had enough of the awkward feeling surrounding them. He waited for an answer but didn't receive one. "Sakura," he asked again.

"Oh, what?" she answered coming out of a daze.

"I asked what's wrong. You've been so quiet the whole way here and you seem so tense."

"Oh, I don't know. Well I guess it's just that I'm excited to see him again."

"Oh, _him_" Neji emphasized the word.

Sakura looked at him a tiny bit infuriated with the way he said it. "What's wrong with him." She stopped and turned to Neji.

Neji stopped also and looked into her eye's, that were full of anger now. "Nothing, I guess." He held back what he really wanted to say.

She wasn't convinced "You don't like him."

"Of course I don't like him!" Neji's voice raised unconsciously.

"Why not!" Sakura raised her voice and dropped the fire wood she had picked up. "Why not, for the obvious reason of course. He betrayed Konoha to join that stupid Snake bastard, just so he could get power. Of course I don't like him. Hes a _traitor."_

"What are you doing on this mission then? You could have easily turned it down."

"It's a challenge and I have to uphold my name." Neji answered her. It was a big lie he had an answer but he couldn't tell her the truth when she was so angry at him.

"So you wanted to get stronger, and this is just a way of accomplishing it. I can't believe you. As much as I hate to say it but, your just like _him." _Sakura walked away. It was all so quick, she felt a hard grasp on her wrist and then she was against the tree looking into is cold white eyes.

"Don't ever compare me to that bastard again." His low menacing voice rang in her hears. She was still staring into his eyes and he was staring into hers. She could feel his breath on her face and her face started to turn red at the sudden close proximity. She pushed him away and jumped into the trees, not bothering to pick up the wood she had dropped.

Sakura ran in the direction of camp but stopped to sit on a tree limb before heading back. _Why do I feel this way? _Sakura thought to herself. _Why did I blush when I was so close to him and could feel his breath on me._ An image of him pinning her to the tree at their sparring match popped into her head, a second image of him with his hand around her waist at the festival popped into her mind. A strong blush creeped onto her face and she was grateful that the darkness. _Oh shit, they're going to be wondering where I am. Not to mention they probably need fire wood_. Sakura made her way back to the camp, a fire had already been started. But she wasn't to surprised about it.

'**I'll let her figure this one out on her own.' Inner Sakura thought to herself.**

"Sakura-chan!! Where were you, I was starting to get worried. Neji came back without you and didn't say anything." Naruto asked her, concern evident in his cerulean eyes.

Sakura stole a glance at Neji, but quickly brought them back to Naruto's face when she found he was looking at her. "Oh, I'm fine I was just taking a walk."

"Oh, well next time tell me. You scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry, Naruto."

"Sakura." Sakura jumped when she heard Shikamaru's voice behind her.

"Yeah,"

"Can I talk to you, for a second."

"Yeah, sure." Sakura vaguely thought she knew what this was about, but wasn't too sure.

Neji watched them walk away from the fire, feeling a bit of jealousy start to form in the pit of his stomach.

"I just wanted to ask you if you had any plans for the medical part of the mission?"

"Oh well, I brought extra for everything than what would normally be needed for a mission of this type. I have twice as much herbs and I brought the most normal poison antidote along with some of the rarer ones."

"Good, I was hoping that you thought ahead. Did you need anything in Suna?"

Sakura noticed the hopeful gleam behind his eyes. "You just want a reason to go see Temari, don't you." Sakura smirked at him.

"Well…. Uhh."

"Actually I do need some things, Suna has some rare plants that could be useful"

Back at the camp Neji couldn't take it anymore, seeing the two of them walk off alone and together made him feel angry and jealous. He walked to his tent and activated his byakugan searching for them. It wasn't long before he found them, Sakura was smirking and Shikamaru even started to smile too. Sakura leaned in close and just before Neji thought she was going to kiss him, she gently hit him on the nose with her finger and walked off with a genuine smile on her face. Shikamaru caught up to her and whispered something in her ear.

Sakura had smirked after she had told him she did need some rare herbs that were only in Suna. It was a lie but she thought she should help him out. Her smirk still plastered on her face she leaned in and playfully hit him on the nose saying 'she likes you too you know.' Sakura started walking away with a genuine smile on her face. She heard him whisper thank you in her ear.

Sakura sat on a log, watching the flickering fire. Everyone else had gone to bed and she had first watch. She watched the dancing flanes and began to wonder about certain things. She had already thought about her fight with Neji and didn't wish to dwell anymore on it. It was obvious that he didn't like Sasuke and probably didn't like her very much either for supposedly supporting his betrayal.

"Sasuke," she said barely above a whisper. Her mind started to wander to Sasuke, how much stronger had he become. Had he killed his brother? Obviously not or Konoha would have heard about it. Would he be excited to see her? _Don't think that Sakura. He doesn't see you like that, he only sees you as a team-mate. Probably not even that anymore. Then what am I doing on this mission then. Your doing it for Naruto… and yourself too._

"_**Rustle"**_

Sakura jumped into her fighting stance. She hadn't been paying attention and was surprised at the sound.

"Calm down, Sakura-san" a voice sounded from the bushes and she recognized it as Kankouro's voice. Gaara, Temari and Kankouro walked calmly out of the bushes towards her. Almost immediately Shikamaru came out of his tent, Temari walked over to greet him.

"What are you doing here, I thought we were going to meet up with you tomorrow." Shikamaru asked looking from Temari, to Gaara and back.

"Well I convinced Gaara and Kankouro that it would be better if we met up sooner so that the mission could go quicker and it might give us more time." Temari answered his question.

Shikamaru looked at Sakura and she gave him the 'i-told-you-she-liked-you' look.

"Well we don't have another tent." As if on cue once again Neji walked out of his tent and said,

"Gaara and Kankorou can sleep in my tent, it's just Naruto. And Temari can sleep in Tenten's tent." He walked over beside Sakura.

"where are you going to sleep?" Sakura asked him.

"it's my shift anyways."

Sakura didn't answer, she was getting tired of him having an answer for everything. Sakura looked up to Gaara who was looking at her intently. She looked back down to the red flames, trying to get the look of his eye's out of her head. In some twisted way it made her feel disturbed and comforted at the same time.

"I'm going to bed then, you coming Gaara."

"Hn," Gaara followed Kankouro.

"Yeah, me too." Temari walked towards Tenten's and Sakura's tent.

Sakura kept her head down as Gaara passed her, she had a feeling that he was still watching her. She heard their tent zipper along with Shikamaru and Temari's tent zipper go up and she let out a small sigh of relief.

Neji caught her sigh and looked up at her.

Suddenly Sakura realized that Neji hadn't left yet and hoped that he hadn't heard her sigh. She looked up at him and found he was looking at her.

"Aren't you going to bed?" he asked her in his calm low voice.

"No, maybe later. If I went to bed right now I'd never fall asleep." She threw another log on the fire to keep it going.

The two sat in silence for a while watching the fire and adding logs every time it seemed to start to get a little dimmer in the small camping site. Neji got up every few minutes to scout the area with his byakugan. He came back everytime shaking his head, indicating to Sakura that there were no enemies.

Sakura was in the middle of yawning with she thought she heard neji say 'sorry'. Her yawn turned into a "uh,"

"I said sorry."

"Your saying sorry to me." She asked increduously.

"Well I wouldn't have to say sorry if you weren't so damn sensitive about him."

"Oh, so were back to him now." She raised her voice but quickly lowered it remembering the others.

"Oh, just forget it my 'sorry' was obviously wasted."

"Your exactly right, because I don't forgive you." She said becoming more aggravated.

"Your annoying."

Sakura sat shocked at his words, she had always been sensitive about those words especially when they were directed at her. She got up and walked to her tent, she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. But anywhere was better than sitting there with him.

Neji thought he saw the glistening of her eyes in the fire as she turned away and a picture of her tear-stained face made it's way back into his head.

**Hope you liked it, RxR please**


	5. let's get this over with

Sakura woke up facing the tent wall, to the feeling of coldness. It wasn't until she was fully awake that she realized that her sleeping bag had slipped down to her mid-thigh exposing some of her skin.

She let out a sigh and decided that it was probably almost time to get up anyway. She sat up and was surprised to see Temari and Tenten still sleeping. Sakura quietly undid the tent zipper and snuck out. Lee and Gaara were sitting watching the fire, Lee had last shift and probably since Gaara was still having a hard time getting used to the sleeping thing he came out to sit with him.

They both turned around when the heard her coming. "SAKURA-CHAN," Lee yelled.

"Shhh!!"

"oh, sorry. How did you sleep." He whispered.

"good you?"

"I had a very good sleep. Gai-sensei says that sleep is one of the most important parts of a mission. You have to have sleep to have a successful mission." Lee gave her the thumbs up position and smiled at her, his tooth giving off a small sparkle.

"Yeah, that's great Lee-san." She answered not really listening. Sakura felt that something was missing. She realized that they didn't have any food yet. "I'm gonna go get some fish for us, K."

"I'll go with you." Gaara answered monotonously and stood up from where he was sitting on a log.

"Ok." Sakura hoped she sounded like she didn't care, if he came or not. The truth was she wasn't sure if she did care or not.

The silence was deafening. Sakura felt like it was advancing towards her, getting ready to suffocate her. She had nothing to say to Gaara to break the silence, why would he even want to talk to her. It didn't look like the silence was bothering him, he was probably glad that she had nothing to say. Why did he come with her then?

So caught up in her thinking she almost walked right into the small creek, thankfully though she saw him stop out of the corner of her eye. Getting out her kunai she was about to get ready to catch the school of fish that was coming down stream, but saw the sand hovering over top the water. Sakura felt a string of panic shoot through her until she realized he was fishing in his own style.

Sakura watched as he threw a kunai in front of the school of fish. About 4 or 5 of them jumped and he quickly caught them with the sand. The fish wiggled for a bit struggling to get back to the water, but their effort was wasted for only a few seconds later they stopped moving. He set the fish next to Sakura and she picked them up, wiping of a bit of the sand.

This continued until they had more than enough, likely Naruto or Lee would want seconds. As on the way to the creek, the silence was starting to become unbearable. Sakura thought she might have to jump into the trees just to get back to camp faster, but that would be rude. 'sigh' how difficult this was becoming.

"Sakura,"

His voice made her jump and she almost dropped the bag that the fish were in. "Y-yes." She stuttered.

"Did you want me to take the bag?"

"Uh… sure." She handed the bag over to Gaara and noticed that he looked right into her eyes when she gave it to him. The same feeling that had overcome her the night before began to form again. She unconsciously dropped her head to the ground trying to hide her blush. _Why are you blushing Sakura, get a grip._

"OW!" Sakura sat on the ground rubbing her forehead. She had run into a tree while not paying attention. _Get a grip, Get a grip, GET A GRIP… AH!_

"You okay?" Gaara was bending in front of her, his light teal eyes examining hers.

"Yeah, I just bumped my forehead a little bit." She brought her hand away and saw a red smear.

"It's bleeding." He stated obviously.

"I'm a medic, I'll heal it."

"Shouldn't you save your chakra for the real battle?" she thought about his question and decided he was probably right, she would need every ounce of chakra she had if there was going to be a battle.

"Yeah, wait what are you doi—." Gaara had leaned in closer and taken his hand and wiped it across her forehead to get most of the blood off. It had stopped bleeding just as quickly as it had started since it was such a small wound. He stood back up and waited for her to get up too.

"Watch where your going." His tone changed backed to its low pitch, i-don't-give-a-shit voice.

In some way Sakura thought she had offended him. "Sorry," she blurted out quickly before he could get too far ahead. He stopped in his tracks,

"Why?"

"Well… I feel like I offended you in some way." _Kami help me I feel like I'm twelve again._

"I should be apologizing to you." He started walking again. His back still turned away from her.

"Where's Sakura." Neji asked trying to sound like he was just curious. He had been awake for almost an hour and a half and hadn't seen her around anywhere in the camp.

"I don't know when I woke up She was gone." Tenten answered his question.

"OH, HER AND GAARA-SAN WENT TO GET FISH!!!" Lee yelled.

"Don't yell you idiot you might attract unwanted attention." Tenten smacked him upside the head while scolding him and giving him death glares whenever he seemed to want to yell again.

"SAKURA-CHAN AND GAARA-SAN WENT OFF TOGETHER!!!!" Naruto yelled.

"Didn't I just tell lee to be quiet." Tenten gave naruto a bonk on the head.

"Ow, tenten that hurt."

"well shut up then."

"I just wanted to know why they were together."

"like lee said they were getting fish." Tenten rolled her eyes at him.

"well it shouldn't take more than and hour to get fish." Naruto muttered under his breath.

Neji heard what Naruto said and agreed with him. Who took more than and hour to get fish. Neji walked over to Shikamaru, trying to engage in conversation about the mission with him. He was trying to keep his mind off of Sakura. Why was she out so long with Gaara of all people.

Neji tried focussing on what Shikamaru was saying and suddenly remembered Shikamaru whispering something in Sakura's ear the night before. His eyes narrowed and decided he was going to find out what happened.

Shikamaru caught Neji's glare and asked "What,"

"What were you talking to Sakura about last night?"

"We, were just talking about the medical part of the mission." He said a little too quickly.

Neji saw something flicker in his eyes and knew there was more. "There's something else too, I know it."

"This is so troublesome, why do I have to tell you if there is something else."

"because,"

Shikamaru's 200 IQ seemed to figure it out quick and he smirked.

Neji intensified his glare even more seeing Shikamaru smirk.

"You like her don't you." Shikamaru whispered. Neji's glare disappeared and was replaced with shock he quickly replied.

"No I don't."

"I see why you're giving me the glare now, man your troublesome."

"What do you think happened." Daring him to figure it out.

"I think you saw me and Sakura leave together into the woods where you couldn't see us. You got jealous went in the tent, activated your byakugan. You saw me whisper something in her ear."

"Damn, that 200 IQ." Neji muttered.

"Don't worry, I don't like her, but he might." Shikamaru nodded his head in the direction of the two arriving people. Neji turned his body so that he could see what Shikamaru was pointing at. He found Gaara walking a step behind Sakura, staring at her with curiosity and amusement. This was going to be a long day.

The team assembled into their new travelling formation. Since the sand siblings had joined the team, Shikamaru had formed a new travelling position. Neji had shot him a glare when he found out that he wouldn't be close to Sakura and Shikamaru had sent and apologetic look back. Although Neji knew he was just trying to do the best thing for the team he didn't like Gaara being so close to her.

Sakura was still in the middle of the newly formed polygon since she was the medic and needed to be unharmed if there was ever an attack. Naruto and Gaara were on either side of her and Tenten was on the other side of Naruto. Shikamaru, Neji and Kakashi led the way while, Kankorou, Lee and Temari brough up the rear.

Even though he was in the front every time he need to check the area he would check and see what was happening behind him. He started to get paranoid with himself after the first few checks. _What the hell am I doing? She can take care of herself. Don't say that, the last time you said that she had her tongue down some guy's throat. Do I really like her, no I don't like her. _He noticed movement about 150 yards away and immediately told Shikamaru.

"Are they rogue or from a village?" he asked Neji.

Neji searched for forehead protectors but didn't see any. "There rogue, but were outnumbered. Maybe about 25 of them."

"Can we avoid them?" Kakashi asked, he had been reading his Icha Icha book, but put it down to join the conversation.

"No, they seem to already know were here."

"I guess there's no choice but to fight them." Kakashi looked to Shikamaru for any other options.

"Yeah, we'll have to fight them. They may be rogue ninja but don't underestimate them." Shikamaru told the group what was happening and everyone became more alert.

"Let's get this over with." Neji said to himself as one of the ninja's jumped from the bushes. He used basic attacks on some of the weaker ninja's to kill them, but others he used his kaiten no jutsu on. He looked around quickly to see what everyone else was up to. Most of them were rapidly killing off the rogue ninja's, but he didn't care what they were up to. He needed to know where Sakura was.

He found her, she had just punched some guy in the face with one of her chakra powered punches and knocked him out. It would be a while before he would wake up and he'd probably have a concussion. Neji fought off a few more, they were almost finished. He turned back to watch her and noticed that she never killed her victims just hurt them enough so that they would be unconscious for a few days. He also noticed that some she almost did kill and it wasn't until he saw a few of them take advantage of her, that he understood why.

They had made it to the camp area where the sand siblings would take a different route than the rest of them. It had been decided that Tenten would go with them for extra help.

Sakura sat down on the ground watching the fire once again. Nobody had gone to bed yet, Temari and Shikamaru had engaged in what looked like and interesting conversation. Kakashi was up in a tree reading his book while Naruto and Kankouro tried to peek at what was inside the porn book. Tenten sat by the fire sharpening her weapons and lee was helping her. Gaara, herself and Neji stared uninterested into the fire.

Gaara stood up and started walking deeper into the forest.

"Where you going?" Sakura asked looking up from the fire to his back where he had stopped.

"Firewood." He said as if that was enough explanation and it was because when Sakura looked over at the woodpile there was nothing but a few twigs left. Who knew that they had used so much firewood in such short time. Oh wait they hadn't Naruto and Kankouro just got sidetracked.

Sakura stood and followed him deeper into the woods. The sun had set so it was fairly dark and they tried to stay close enough that they still had light from the slowly dwindling fire.

They hadn't gone very far when Sakura heard Gaara call her name.

"yeah."

"why did you come with me."

"I guess I was bored." The silence covered them again but this time it didn't seem so suffocating, it was more relaxed and content.

"Sakura," he called her name again.

"Yeah,"

"Sorry." She stopped and stared at him, barely grasping what she had collected of firewood.

"I don't understand." she warily watched him as he walked towards her.

"This morning, I meant that I should be the one saying sorry to you. For all those years ago."

Sakura had a flashback of guarding Sasuke from Gaara when he was in his true form. Then she was flung against a tree and everything went black. "Gaara, I've already forgiven you." She smiled at him.

Gaara's face was full of surprise and shock, "How can you forgive me so easily, when I almost killed you."

"you didn't kill me though Gaara," Sakura said emphasizing with her hands that she was standing in front of him. "you were just fighting for what you thought was right. You didn't know anything else except loneliness and anger until you met naruto."

"you've grown,"

"really, how so," she asked surprised by the sudden change of topic.

"mentally and physically" and before she knew it Gaara had softly pressed his lips to hers. Sakura was stunned at his action, but felt some sort of relief in the back of her mind that told her that somebody still loved her.

She felt him start to pull away when he didn't get a reaction from her, but she desperately pushed forward pulling him back into the kiss. She felt his tongue move along her lips and she gave him access. They roamed each others mouth's with their tongues. She felt her back it a tree and his body pressed against hers, she let her hand move up to his neck and into his hair. Finally in desperate need for air they let go of each other.

Neji's eyes could have looked like sharingan from his place in the trees.

**Hope you liked it RxR pay your respects to the veterans because i made this chapter on November 11, best chapter yet**

**Kisata-chan**


	6. confusion

Neji's anger started to reach boiling point when he saw Gaara continue to kiss Sakura. Sakura kissed him back and Neji felt hurt. He went back to camp unable to keep watching. Did she actually like him?

Sakura suddenly pushed Gaara away.

"What," Gaara asked surprised by her action.

"I can't do this." Once sakura had started kissing Gaara again a picture of Neji had sprouted in her mind and she realized something.

"Why, I don't understand" Gaara's voice sounded needy which was unusual for him.

"I wouldn't be being honest with you if I said I loved you." She whispered turning her face away from him.

Gaara grabbed her chin and crushed his lips to hers, desperate to get a reaction from her. There was nothing. He let her go and looked in her eyes, she was telling the truth. She didn't love him. He gave her a look of understanding, Sakura gave him an apologetic smile, she took one step forward and placed a gentle kiss on his lips that he returned. They knew know that they would only ever be friends.

Sakura ran out back to the fire and hastily dropped what little firewood she had collected. She then walked swiftly away from the fire in the opposite direction of where she had come from. Walking deeper into the woods she felt her eyes begin to brim with tears.

It was all clear now, why she had thought of Neji when she kissed Gaara. Why she blushed every time she was close to him, she thought of the time when they were training. She loved him. The only thing was that he didn't have any feelings for her. How could he, they were always getting into arguments. Her sobs came in silent tears as she dropped to the ground leaning against the base of a tree. The only thing to do was to keep her feelings hidden and hope they went away.

Neji saw Gaara come out of the woods, slowly walking to his tent. "Where's Sakura?" he asked harshly.

Gaara seemed surprised by his comment and seemed to tense up a bit. "I don't know I thought she was back here."

"She went to take a walk." Tenten stated.

Neji started walking in the direction of the woods, but was stopped by Tenten's next comment.

"Leave her alone, she probably just wants to be alone right now. She seemed pretty tired after that battle." Tenten continued to stare at the fire.

Neji reluctantly took a few steps back before fully turning around and walking back to his tent, once he was inside he activated his byakugan and found her walking around. Maybe tenten was right, she was just taking a walk. He saw her sit down at the base of a tree and decided that she was alright. He deactivated his byakugan and tried to get some sleep before his watch. Though this attempt was futile, for he had a restless dream.

Dream 

"_Where am I?" Neji thought running through endless amounts of trees. He had a horrible feeling in his gut that something had happened. "What's going on?"_

_Suddenly the trees ended and a clearing appeared. Sakura was lying in the middle of it unmoving, her neck and lips were bruised and her clothes were torn. "Sakura," he whispered her name. He took a step toward her, but a voice started talking._

"_you killed her." Neji spun around looking for the voice. "you killed her," it repeated._

"_NO, I didn't"_

"_yeah, you did." Sasuke's red eyes stared into Neji's white ones._

"_UCHIHA" he yelled at him and charged at him while pulling out a kunai._

"_ha, you actually think you can beat me." _

_Neji kept charging at him and swinging the kunai around. He kept dodging them, but he was so blinded by his rage he couldn't concentrate._

"_you'll just end up hurting her." Neji threw the kuani at Sasuke this time. Sasuke moved and Sakura's body was right behind him. Just as the kunai was about to pierce her heart, _

End dream

Neji woke up.It was just a dream, but there was no way that he would be able to get back to sleep.

"Hey, neji" Naruto said when he saw neji come out of the tent.

"yeah, sure I'll take over the shift." He answered knowing that was Naruto's question.

"hey, thanks. I'm so bagged." Naruto yawned and walked back to his tent.

Sakura woke up with an ache in her neck, she realized she had fallen asleep against the tree. "Oh, crap" she had noticed that it was dark out and was probably missing her watch. She ran back to the camp as fast as she could.

When she reached the camp she wasn't too surprised to see Neji sitting there. It was just her luck that she would have to deal with the one person she loved and hated. She tried to ignore him and walk quickly to her tent without drawing attention, but it was inevitable.

"Where have you been?"

"Why should you care."

"Hn,"

Sakura began to walk away, but felt a hard grasp on her wrist. She followed the arm up to the cold white eyes of Neji. "let go of me." She said with venom in her voice. She gave a hard tug when he didn't release her. "Let go!!" she raised her voice.

"Do you want to wake everyone up?"

Sakura gave a sigh of annoyance and in a whisper with as much venom and hatred she could muster she said, "your such and egoistical arrogant jerk. I don't even know why I put up with you. I could just walk away and never speak to you again, but no you ins—."

"Do you love Gaara?"

"What?"

"Do you?!"

"No, no, of course not. Why would you even think of something like that."

"I saw you kissing him."

Sakura didn't answer at first "I was confused and I felt comforted by the thought of knowing that someone cared."

"What were you confused about?" he looked her in the eye.

"I was……..confused about my feelings for Sasuke." Neji's heart dropped and he calmly went back to the fire.

Sakura felt so bad for lying to him, she knew that her feelings for Sasuke had faded when she realized she loved Neji, but Neji didn't love her. She felt even more depressed seeing that he almost looked relieved. But why did he ask in the first place, was he just curious. Yeah, that was probably it.

Sakura stood there for a bit longer, debating whether she should tell Neji about her feelings and get it off her shoulders. "Neji….I--."

"Go to bed." Sakura was surprised at the anger in his voice. Was he angry with her, for what reason. She couldn't think, all she knew was that Neji hated her. She could feel the tears now, but did her best to conceal them.

_I hate her, how can she go from one guy to the next and still have feelings for Sasuke. None of them even like her. I'm the one in love with her. Maybe I should just _ "Go to bed." He realized he said that outloud and looked up to see Sakura with glistening eyes. She walked into the tent and for the third time in a week the thought of Sakura's tearstained face the night of the party came into his mind. But this time it wasn't because of Sasuke, it was because of him.

Morning came quickly and as neji sat eating his fish he stole quick glances at Sakura. Actually everyone was stealing quick glances at her.

"Sakura-chan, are you okay." Naruto finally asked.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired, Naruto-kun"

"You look kind of pale, do you have a fever." Naruto put his hand to her forehead.

"No I'm fine."

"Sakura you can go lie down for a bit before we leave." Kakashi told her, looking at her with concern.

"No I'm fine, I said." Beginning to get a little irritated.

"Sakura, go lie down." Shikamaru said.

Sakura obeyed knowing that you followed any order from the captain. Sakura layed facing the ceiling of the tent trying to fall asleep, but all she could picture was Neji's relief and the sound of anger in his voice.

"She doesn't look well, should we send a note to the Hokage." Temari asked sitting beside Tenten.

"I don't think she's ill, I think it's more of depression." Tenten answered.

"Really, what would she be depressed about?'

"I don't know, might be Sasuke. All I know is that she was crying last night. You could barely hear her, but she was crying."

"I hope she'll be okay."

"Oh, she will. She's always great in battle. It's just when nothing is distracting her from her problems."  
Neji listened to the girls conversation and couldn't help but think that he was the problem.


End file.
